So I've posted his list above, and mine is listed on the first page of the thread, so without further adieu, I'll jump right into the battle report!
Fire in the Skies
We roll for spells:
Wizard lord - Flesh to stone, Throne of Vines, Regrowth, Dwellers Below. Pretty much the ideal lineup when rocking lore of life...
Archmage - Pha's, Net, Banishment, Timewarp
Level 2 - Pha's, Banishment
Level 1 - Speed of Light
BSB - Shem's Burning Gaze
Deployment
Looking at the terrain, I know that empire players can't pass up the opportunity to put their artillery on hills. I used terrain deployment to my advantage here - we rolled 10 pieces of terrain, so I used buildings and a couple tall forests to create blind spots for anything that sets up on those hills.
My eagles go down first, each in one of those blind spots, and due to most of his points being tied up in 3 units which drop at the same time as detachments, I end up with a huge advantage in the deployment phase. I decide to focus my casters on the Eastern end of my battle line, and pair up the White Lions against those knights - They're weilding great weapons, so S6 should drop their saves respectably.
I deploy everything very wide to minimize the incoming template damage, and put the BSB in the biggest unit (the spears). History has taught me a valuable lesson that people can't resist putting templates down on my only big unit. The archmage goes in with the swordmasters to diversify my character portfolio, since I know he's rockin' Dwellers.
Finally, the Dragon Princes go on the Eastern Flank, which should match up very well against that unit of swordsmen, then follow through into the artillery unless he commits his big horde to defending that direction.
We roll off, and he wins the first turn with his +1 to roll
Turn 1, Empire
He wheels his knights enough that pretty much every approach is cut off for my Western Eagle. His two units of handgunners move up into shooting/redirecting range, and the rest stays put.
Magic starts off with a boxcars, but I successfully channel one, plus the crystal, making it 11 v 8. He starts off with a 2 dice throne, and gets as high a roll as he could possibly get without miscasting - 15 total. I throw 4 of my own dice at it, since I know that his Arch Lector is out of 24" range of most of the light spells, and I'm not too concerned about buffs this turn. He then throws 2 dice at making his unit unbreakable, 2 dice at flesh to stone on his greatswords which I allow, and his remaining dice go into bound Pha's on the Greatswords which I dispel... well... because I can.
He then commences his bombardment. I had spent much of my previous workweek sending over taunts and attack ads to him via email, so there was no doubt in my mind that this is where I was going to suffer. He aims his first mortar shot at my swordmasters in the East... and misfires! Second one lines up and scatters westward, clipping the edge of the swordmaster unit and getting the spears. My archmage fails his lookout sir roll and soaks up one of the hits, so I only lose one swordmaster, and the Spears take 5 wounds, losing 3 models after a couple successful saving throws from armour and the icon. The third mortar misfires too, and I really dodge a bullet... ahaha get it?
The two Eastern Cannons can't see either Eagle, so they opt to shoot at the dragon princes, with one shot falling short, and another taking one out. The Western cannon can't actually see the Western Eagle, so it puts a shot through the White Lions and Swordmasters, causing two wounds on each.
Wow, that could have been a *lot* worse...
Turn 1, High Elves
Not ones to look a gift horse in the mouth, the Elven host hike up their battle skirts and double time it across the field. The Western Eagle opts to fly Eastward, since his approach along the West would just result in a charge from the knights and allow them a reform to threaten my White Lions. Instead, I park it in front of my White Lions, which I assume he won't want to trifle with. The Eastern Eagle flies up aggressively, and positions itself to force the cannons to choose between the Dragon Princes and it, as opposed to getting both in one shot.
I move my archmage's unit of swordmasters up temptingly close to the Arch Lector, since I believe that he doesn't have a magic weapon, so worst case I can stick it in a challenge.
With one more round of serious shooting coming my way, I hope for big numbers in the Winds roll - and naturally I roll a 3. A channel + the banner puts me at 5, and his 3 bonus dice put him at 3 as well. I throw it all at a banishment on his mortar, and he throws his dice but fails to dispel. 10 hits later, his mortar gets banished back to the Empire workshop. Not quite the all powerful magic phase I was hoping for, but I'll take it.
Shooting puts a couple wounds on the Eastern Handgunners, and we move on to his turn.
Turn 2, Empire
He takes the bait with the Arch Lector and issues a charge on the Swordmasters. He also, to my suprise, issues a charge with his knights on my White Lions and his swordsmen into my Great Eagle in the East (this eagle is actually angled a bit more towards the board edge, my bad). He turns his Greatswords to face the incoming knights in the East, and also to swing his mage into lifebloom range of his Arch Lector. The central handgunners move up again, as in their current position they'd allow an overrun right into the halbrediers. He positions his Halbrediers far enough away for it to be unlikely for this to occur, but to also give him a great countercharge should I overrun his handgunners.
We move along to magic, and a 6 & 1 puts the final total at 7 v 8 after channels. He starts with a 2 dice throne, and I fail to meet the casting value with 3 of my own dice. Yeesh. Next he throws 2 dice at Flesh to Stone, and rolls snakeyes, allowing me to dispel all of his attempts at bound spells.
The bombardment commences, and he targets his first shot at the unengaged swordmasters. A wide scatter puts the template right on the White Lion combat. It kills a knight, and 4 white lions. The second shot scatters almost identically, but 2" farther, putting it on the knights and Eagles, taking out 3 knights, and putting a wound on the Eagle. The Eastern Cannon fires a shot at the mage bunker, but the ball stops short, and the second East cannon misfires. Finally, the Western one puts a shot right through the spears and swordmasters, catching the back of the spears and killing two swordmasters. All of his handgunner shots bounce off the Dragon Prince armour, and we move on to combat.
The White Lions do well vs. the charging knights - they take 4 wounds, but do 6 to him , causing him to lose combat by one. He fails his break test, and the White Lions manage to catch him, but stop their advance at the eagle.
The Swordmasters direct all of their attacks at the War Altar, and manage to put 3 wounds through the armour and ward save. In return, they take 3 wounds from impact hits, and another from attacks, but they hold on steadfast.
Finally, in the East, the eagle has an excellent round of combat, putting 3 wounds on the swords from attacks and stomp and taking none in return. The eagle loses combat, but manages to hold. Didn't see that coming lol!
Turn 2, High Elves
The Dragon Princes join the fray in support of the Eagle, and the Western Eagle fails his charge to get to the exposed mortar. He moves 5" forward, and the White Lions reform to 7 wide and move up to threaten the halbreds, but still keep the cannon in their front arc. Spears reform to fully ranked, and the swordmasters move up to threaten the halbreds as well.
Magic comes up big for me, with 9 being the initial roll, but the banner and channels putting me up to 12. This makes it 12 v 9. I start off with a 4 dice powered up banishment on his central mortar with my level 2, but it is dispelled. I then power up a Pha's with my Archmage on 3 dice, which he also dispels. I use two more dice to put net on his central mortar, which he allows, then finish off with a timewarp on the Archmage's swordmasters. He scrolls this, as he doesn't have enough dispel dice to match me.
Shooting brings his Eastern Handgunners down to 4, and they pass their panic test.
In combat, the swordmasters put the remaining two wounds on the War Altar, leaving the Arch Lector feeling suddenly... breakable. He does, however, pass his break test after taking down one more swordmaster.
In the East, the Princes' attacks swing the combat in favour of the High Elves, but the swordsmen remain steadfast and pass their break test.
We move on to his turn 3
Turn 3, Empire
His greatswords are in a tough spot - If he turns to face the advancing elites in the West, he essentially surrenders his artillery. He keeps them facing the way they are, hoping for another steadfast round with the swordsmen, and relying on stubborn to get him through should the unit get charged. His halbreds wheel to prevent a flank charge from the white lions, and make for some long charges for the two Western-most units of elites.
Magic ends up 6 v 6, and with throne still up, he starts with a flesh to stone on his swordsmen with 4 dice. I'd need a slightly above average roll on 4 dice, and have a good chance of dispelling it on 5. However, if I do this, it leaves me with only one dice to dispel his bound spell. I decide I want to crumble that flank more than I fear a soulfire on my swordmasters engaged with the arch lector, so I throw 5 dice and dispel it. He throws his remaining 2 at soulfire, getting an 8, but a roll of 6 + my 5 to dispel manages to take it out .
Shooting - his only mortar to fire this turn puts the pie plate down on my recently reformed Spearmen (I swear this is a genetic glitch in template users lol. The see a ranked unit and just have a compulsion to put a template on it). A direct hit drops the unit down to 24 models, and his handgunners put it down another 3 more.
The Western cannon lines up a shot on the eagle, but it soars over it, killing two white lions instead. The two Eastern cannons both shoot at the swordmasters, with one of them taking out two from that unit.
In combat, the Prince's attacks and the eagle's stomp manage to get the unit below 5, and it flees, being pursued and caught by the eagle. The Dragon Princes reform to threaten a combo charge on the greatswords.
Turn 3, High Elves
After some consideration, I decide to go all in on the Halbrediers. I declare charges with both swordmasters and the White Lions, figuring two of them should get in based on the distances. The spears charge the handgunners, and both eagles charge warmachines. Since their support charged in to the halbreds, I run the Dragon Princes up out of line of sight of the Greatswords.
Magic is 8 v 6 - I start with a single target Pha's on the White Lions, which he allows fearing worse things. I then snatch up my remaining 6 dice, mutter "This one's for you Curu" and toss them all at a powered up Timewarp. I manage it on a 25, and he fails to dispel.
Shooting is ineffective, with their target now cowering in a tower, so we move to combat.
The Eastern eagle takes out one cannon and moves on to the next one, and the Western one stalls out when the mortar crew pass their break test. The spears predictably skewer the handgunners and overun.
In the big combat, I direct 2 white lion's plus supporting attacks at the Warrior Priest. This kills him good, and the rest go on rank and file. 26 wounds later, he returns attacks on my units, killing 3 lions and 4 swordmasters. He's still steadfast, and he passes his break test.
Turn 4, Empire
He turns his greatswords to face the main elven host, and we move on to magic.
9 v 8 - He tries a flesh to stone on his halbrediers on 3, which I dispel with 3, then he throws his 6 remaining at dwellers on my mage bunker. He succeds, and I fail to dispel. However, miraculously, both mages pass their test, and 7 archers get dragged into the ground.
He shoots at the archers, killing all but 1.
In combat, I take his unit down to 8 models remaining, and he does a couple wounds to me. At this point he needs insane courage, which he doesn't get. The white lions pursue and catch him, and the swordmasters reform to face the greatswords.
Facing a turn of 2 timewarped units (spears and swordmasters) definitely making their charges, and a rear charge from dragon princes, the concedes the game at this point. He shakes his fist at me and threatens to take 100 crossbows next time. We laugh, and go have a beer.
So there you have it. For the first time in my Warhammer career, I surrendered 0 victory points to my opponent.
After Battle Analysis
So there were a lot of things that effected this battle in my opinion, both in and out of my control.
- His shooting in the first and second turn was largely ineffective. Given, I deployed my units to minimize template and cannon hits, and hid my eagles well, but the first turn of shooting was something he was really relying on, and it largely let him down.
- His lack of supporting units, and my large number of units forced his hordes to have to consistently make difficult and often bad choices. For example, his greatswords had to guard that flank and leave the halbreds unsupported, or they could have supported the halbreds and left me to take out the artillery unimpeded. The clear choice here would have been to support the other combat block, and one more supporting unit would have done the trick. This is what I mean when I say that "Deathstar" armies typically have poor(er) support.
- True to Curu's prediction, the real winner here was the timewarp/pha's combo on the halbred combat. That, combined with killing the Warrior Priest immediately both decreased the incoming damage, and allowed the elites to chew through a huge unit in two turns.
- I think he overestimated the War Altar's survivability - I think he was counting on it surviving until the life mage could start putting back wounds on it. It's a great tarpit, but only versus lower strength troops. Swordmasters did just fine at taking it out.
I think that the shooting letting him down is a primary issue, but I really see the lack of supporting units as the thing that lost the game here - It allowed me to move in fast and hard, and dictate exactly where and when combat was going to happen.
Thanks once again for reading! I'd appreciate any comments or criticism anybody has to offer!
D
Ps. Curu, I'm still mulling over the +1 to cast and dispel, I'll respond to that tomorrow.
[i]There is nothing do fear but fear itself... well, that and Toughness tests. [/i]
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